Rabat – Moroccan and Thai tourism agencies have signed an agreement to boost tourism in both countries.
The agreement is part of Vision 2020 which seeks to welcome 20 million visitors to Morocco by 2020, said Abdelilah El Housni, Morocco’s ambassador to Thailand.
A memorandum of understanding was signed earlier this month in the Moroccan capital Rabat between Abderrafie Zouiten, director-general of the Moroccan National Tourist Office and Suparerk Soorangura, president of the Thailand Travel Agents Association, said the ambassador.
Over sixty Thai travel professionals and journalists have been invited to a 10-day trip to visit Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakesh and nine other cities to become more acquainted with Morocco’s tourist sites.
“This trip by the TTAA demonstrates the attractiveness and diversity of Morocco’s rich heritage, stability and security,” Mr Housni said.
Morocco’s Tourism sector is reaching out to other markets after experiencing a decline in tourist arrivals in the first half of 2016.
The nation saw a 2.6% decline from a year earlier to 4.2 million tourist arrivals, according to Morocco’s Tourism office. The decline reflects a slowdown in the European economies.
Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy decreased by 8%, 7%, 5% and 5% respectively, the office said.
Last month, Morocco’s Ministry of Tourism reaffirmed its commitment to improve the hospitality industry and stay on track with Vision 2020.
Vision 2020 was presented as a government policy in 2010 in Marrakech. It is King Mohammed’s VI objective to increase the size of the tourism sector and make Morocco among the most popular tourist destinations worldwide.
The goal of Vision 2020 is to increase the number of tourist that come to Morocco and the quality of services offered to them with the effect of making tourism a more prosperous industry to contribute to the overall economy of Morocco.
